What do you have if you don't have Jesus?

I was thinking about this last night and decided to turn it into a Bible lesson for my kiddos today.

What do you have if you don’t have Jesus?

1. A bunch of stuff that will get worn out, used up, stolen, ruined, and destroyed
1. What is some stuff that you have?
2. Will it last?
2. A few little pleasures that are fleeting (quickly gone), never satisfy, and leave you disappointed
1. What are some pleasures that you like?
2. Do they last?
3. Fear of danger, evil, and death
1. Do you fear danger, evil, or death?
4. Anxiety and worry about what you will eat, drink, wear, and where you will stay, go, and what you will do
1. Do you ever worry about food or clothes or where you will stay or what you will do tomorrow?
5. Guilt, shame, and condemnation for doing bad things and not doing good things
1. Do you ever feel bad for doing things you know you shouldn’t do?
2. Do you ever feel bad for not doing things you know you should do?
6. An identity found in something unstable, imperfect, insecure, and changing
1. What do you find your identity in?

What do you have if you have Jesus?

1. A treasure and reward that lasts forever, cannot be taken away, never runs out, and is far more valuable than anything else

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.

(Matthew 6:19-21 ESV)

2. The greatest pleasure that endures (lasts) forever, increases (gets better), satisfies completely, and is better than you can imagine

For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

(Psalm 107:9 ESV)

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

(Psalm 16:11 ESV)

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…

(Philippians 3:8 ESV)

3. Confidence of life forever with the One you love in the best place ever and certainty that God is on your side so you have nothing to fear

...that whoever believes in [Jesus]  may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

(John 3:15-16 ESV)

4. A sure promise of provision for all that you need for anything that you face

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

(Matthew 6:25-34 ESV)

5. Forgiveness, peace, righteousness, and Life in you to help you do what is right and hate what is wrong

To [Jesus] all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

(Acts 10:43 ESV)

[Jesus] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

(Colossians 1:13-14 ESV)

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

(Romans 8:10-11 ESV)

6. An identity that can never be shaken or changed, that is founded in the Perfect One

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

(Romans 6:5-11 ESV)

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

(Colossians 3:3-4 ESV)

Do you have Jesus?